App to help make quick buck on iPhones

If you already own an iPhone 4, do you still need a software application that tells you when the popular handset is available again in an Apple Store? One developer says, 'Yes.'

A spokeswoman for Apple said iPhone 4s had not been available from the company's website since November. On Monday, local developer Playmore released the 'Available Now!' application, which notifies users when the phone is back in stock at the Apple Store.

Although the price of parallel imports has dropped, the phone is still in high demand. Apple sells a 16 gigabyte iPhone 4 for HK$4,988 and a 32GB one for HK$5,888. Parallel imports now cost almost HK$2,000 more.

Adrian Chan Chun-yu, a marketing officer for Playmore, said the app was designed to help those who wanted to profit from reselling the handsets. When the phone became available on the official website, they would be sold out in an hour or so, he said. Those who wanted to resell needed to be notified quickly.

The app comes in three versions: one free, the others costing US$4.99 and US$19.99. The free version has a 30-minute delay in notification, while the US$4.99 one has a 15-minute lag and the last, none. Chan said a few hundred users had downloaded the free version but none had subscribed for the other two.

In June, a month before the phone's official release in the city, a 32GB iPhone 4 cost HK$14,800.